RED OAK: ARCHIVE

Longman's hex-based exploration PBP campaign

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RED OAK: ARCHIVE

Post by Longman »

This is where we will start the game play.

The map:
Map1a.JPG
Map1a.JPG (1.84 MiB) Viewed 18125 times
You live in, or have gathered in, the town of Red Oak, which is one of the border towns built to hold back the goblins in the bad old days.

Red Oak is in the next hex west down the road from A09. It is not shown on the map.

The road east leads through some patchy farmland, with a few sheep and a lot of weeds, then runs out abruptly when the treeline starts.

Each hex is 3 miles by 3 miles.

Squares marked 'n' are a kind of no man's land or the patchy, underused farmland.

Squares marked x have been patrolled by the Red Oak rangers within the last month or so. They report no goblin activity and more wild animals than usual, which is a good sign, although do watch out for bears, wild boar, wolves, etc.

It is spring so the trees are green. The terrain is light-medium deciduous forest. The goblins and other humanoids cut a lot of the trees down for firewood.

In the distance about 30 miles away there is a range of larger mountains and you can see the cliffs of many. Boldenwald 'proper' starts beyond those.

Closer, about 8 miles from the end of the road, you can see some lower hills and a few medium-sized mountains. On one of these has an old, human-built watch-tower on top of it, overlooking a valley. Fires have been seen here at night. The goblins are probably using it. It must be pretty run down by now, though.

You are on the road out of Red Oak, in hex A09. Some Red Oak rangers escort you part of the way and give you advice (don't light fires at night, watch out for bears), etc. Then you are on your own in that hex and you need to tell me what you are doing from there.

Go!
Woe
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Re: The Road from Red Oak (chapter 1)

Post by Woe »

The plan is to follow the river upstream. A09 -> B09 -> C10. The river should give us opportunities to forage, keep us from getting lost, and avoid the goblin camp.
Freya HP 24/24 AC 16 (17 two weapons)
Kilian HP 20/20 AC 19 (18 no shield)
Talin HP 29 AC 16
Tiana HP 11 AC 12 SP 8/8
Fido HP 9/9 AC 16
Anna HP 12/12 AC 15 (19 defensively)
Bruce HP 20/20 AC 16 (15 no shield)

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Longman
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Re: The Road from Red Oak (chapter 1)

Post by Longman »

So, your first move is into B09. You move 3 miles into the hex.

It is light-medium deciduous forest, and the rangers have explored here before. It's kinda weird, moving through perfectly ordinary forestland, just like the kind you have played in since you were kids. But this time, you are wearing armor and carrying weapons.

After you go a few miles you feel a bit more like you are out in the wilderness.

There are rocky structures around but it is hard to tell if they are old farm walls, or just rocks.

I'd suggest spending just one hour in this hex and going straight through. It has already been explored by the rangers.

Image
Woe
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Re: The Road from Red Oak (chapter 1)

Post by Woe »

Despite the dwarf's insistence to stop and in estivate the rock formations, the party continues on their journey at a comfortable pace.

Marching order: diamond, with the dwarf in front and both archers on the sides.
Freya HP 24/24 AC 16 (17 two weapons)
Kilian HP 20/20 AC 19 (18 no shield)
Talin HP 29 AC 16
Tiana HP 11 AC 12 SP 8/8
Fido HP 9/9 AC 16
Anna HP 12/12 AC 15 (19 defensively)
Bruce HP 20/20 AC 16 (15 no shield)

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Red Oak loot
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Longman
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Re: The Road from Red Oak (chapter 1)

Post by Longman »

OK. 1 hour in.

Not long into the second hour your cross into uncharted territory - C10. No apparent difference but your ranger does see lots of evidence of animal activity - wolves and rabbits in particular in this area. The watchtower is not visible on your left but you try t stay hidden in the trees anyway so the goblins do not catch a glint of metal or the like. They are probably asleep, anyway.

After about half an hour in the hex, following a fairly obvious animal run, you find an animal trap, not sprung. It's a scissor trap for rabbits or squirrels. Not far away there is a sapling trap for deer, also not sprung.

Whoever is making these is not hiding it. Probably humanoids. Talin can't tell how long they have been there for.

Talin then tries to track the humanoids from here but loses it after 5 minutes. (%40.)

(oops).

How long do you want to spend in the hex? It has not been explored before.

1 hour - push through
2 hours - explore, map a trail back
3 hours - find most things
4 hours+ - find hidden things
Woe
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Re: The Road from Red Oak (chapter 1)

Post by Woe »

"I don't like not knowing what is ahead of us. Talin, what can you tell from those traps? Human or goblin?" says Kilian.

"We need to go slow. Whatever can trap a deer can probably trap a dwarf." Freya says with a smile.

Talin looks more closely at the traps. "I can't tell what made these traps. They look (primitive?) but beyond that, no ideas." Talin scans the terrain nearby. "Yeah, I agree. Let's find out more about what else we have to worry about. Maybe it's nothing more than adventurous children."

Tiana watches the exchange between the others with a strained smile. When it looks like the ranger and trapper (aka thief... backstory starting to appear) both recommend moving slower, she gets out one of her prized sheets of parchment and maps out the terrain encountered thus far.

Kilian is going to be on point, crossbow loaded. The archers will have their bows out but primary intent will be searching the area. Tiana will only be doing a cursory search, focusing more on keeping watch and occasionally mapping the area.

3 hour search, and may stay longer depending on what we find.

OOC: Starting to get a backstory for two.
Last edited by Woe on Thu Apr 17, 2014 7:41 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Freya HP 24/24 AC 16 (17 two weapons)
Kilian HP 20/20 AC 19 (18 no shield)
Talin HP 29 AC 16
Tiana HP 11 AC 12 SP 8/8
Fido HP 9/9 AC 16
Anna HP 12/12 AC 15 (19 defensively)
Bruce HP 20/20 AC 16 (15 no shield)

Red Oak map
Red Oak loot
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Longman
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Re: The Road from Red Oak (chapter 1)

Post by Longman »

OK, no problem.

a 3-hour search is a fine idea but I will just remind you that 4 of your 6 'hours' for the day will have been spent. It will be well into the afternoon by the time you finish exploring. Is that cool? (See the movement rule in the new thread for clarification).

You find...drumroll...

Some more traps and evidence of humanoid activity, although not frequent. This is probably no man's land for the goblins, just like the 'n' hexes are for you.

Your ranger picks up a trail and follows it, this time. It leads down towards the river.

By the time you get to the river, it is quite a well developed path and the other characters can see it too. (You are probably moving along near to it, rather than on it, right?)

The river is about fifteen feet across, and look a bit like so...
Image

It flows west. On your side of the border it is called the Swell and is notorious with local farmers for having dead goblin bodies or broken rafts come floating down into human lands whenever it rains hard.

On either side are periodic stretches where there are the remains of stone fences from the old days.

Right at the end of the 3 hours you find the remains of a fire down near the river, and the coals are still dry. It rained the day before yesterday so this is pretty recent, almost certainly last night (another successful roll for Talin).

(I will update the map every so often, not right away).
Woe
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Re: The Road from Red Oak (chapter 1)

Post by Woe »

"This fire isn't more than a day old. Between that and the unsprung traps, we probably have a goblin hunting party in the area." Talin comments. "Fill up the waterskins. We'll keep to the river as we go further inland, but we won't camp near it for the night."

"What I wouldn't give for a dwarven guardtower, with strong ale and warming stones. I don't know how anyone can stand all this greenery and sunlight." Kilian bemoans.

"Kilian, you actually have a good idea!" Freya exclaims. "Well... the strong ale is a good idea too, but the part about the guardtower. We need to get above the canopy and see what the terrain is around here."

"Yeah, that's a good idea. Let's see what we can find in the morning. For now, let's start looking for a defensible area." Talin reminds everyone.

"And maybe some strong ale..." Kilian adds.

OOC: We'll exhaust the day moderately searching, and camp ~400 yards away from the river. No campfire. Watch cycle (10 hours) is Talin, Freya, Kilian, Tiana. How dense is the canopy?
Freya HP 24/24 AC 16 (17 two weapons)
Kilian HP 20/20 AC 19 (18 no shield)
Talin HP 29 AC 16
Tiana HP 11 AC 12 SP 8/8
Fido HP 9/9 AC 16
Anna HP 12/12 AC 15 (19 defensively)
Bruce HP 20/20 AC 16 (15 no shield)

Red Oak map
Red Oak loot
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Longman
Posts: 3616
Joined: Tue Mar 11, 2014 4:12 am
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Re: The Road from Red Oak (chapter 1)

Post by Longman »

As the afternoon moves on, you push into D10.

The path follows the river - again I am assuming you aren't silly enough to walk straight down it but you walk about 400 yards from it and keep an eye it.

There are a few side paths, and also, a larger path heading off to the north-east, after you have been going about half an hour in this hex.

This terrain isn't as nice as the last few hexes. More trees have been cut down, and a lot of the trees are younger. Kilian probably approves. Your ranger sees more traps, but can't find any fresh tracks, or any indication of how recently goblins have been around here.

At this point you seek out a very large tree on a small ridge, and someone - the thief I am guessing - shimmies up above the canopy and has a gander at the surrounding area.

You get about 60' up (roped on?), and you can see a few things -

- The forest on the other side of the river is much thicker and the trees are bigger. You see large birds (eagles) in there. The elves like the look of it.

- The north-east track meanders through D10 and you see more of it in D9. It's heading for the hills in E9.

-The river continues through D10 into E10 and you think it is getting a bit wider.

This tree is a huge old oak, and reaches 150' in the air. Do you want to keep climbing to see more? I'll have to make some climb rolls. Otherwise it's time to camp for the night and make those wandering monster rolls.

(I did mention that goblins are more active at night, didn't I?)
Woe
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Joined: Wed Jul 31, 2013 6:45 pm

Re: The Road from Red Oak (chapter 1)

Post by Woe »

Freya looks toward Watchtower to see if she can see anything interesting in that direction. With one final glance at the direction of Red Oak, she then climbs down and tells the party what she saw.

Tiana looks puzzled. "That's odd. Usually they widen near the sea. We should look at that further. There may be other geological features nearby as well."

"But for now, we should set up for the night." Talin adds. The companions start looking for a defensible area. Talin (and maybe Freya, if she can be of any help) will set up some elementary snares at an outer perimeter as well. Nothing excessively noisy, but loud enough of a "sproing" where they can be heard 100' away. Talin will try to make them look like goblin make.

OOC: as for what's "best defensible", I'll leave to you. Maybe a small, unoccupied cave? I'm presume that dwarves don't want to sleep in trees and the party won't be able to construct a platform 40' off the ground.

OOC: Watch order is based on likelihood of encountering something. Goblins are active at night, so I'm assuming that's most likely Kilian or Freya's shift. Talin has a "see in the dark" problem and Tiana isn't combat-oriented, hence the watch order.
Freya HP 24/24 AC 16 (17 two weapons)
Kilian HP 20/20 AC 19 (18 no shield)
Talin HP 29 AC 16
Tiana HP 11 AC 12 SP 8/8
Fido HP 9/9 AC 16
Anna HP 12/12 AC 15 (19 defensively)
Bruce HP 20/20 AC 16 (15 no shield)

Red Oak map
Red Oak loot
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